I arrived in a sunny Bangkok around midday, but by the
time I reached my hostel (about 3 hours later due to reasons TOTALLY out of my
control) it had chucked it down with rain and had become a very miserable first
day in Thailand. I have to say, it was very unnerving being in a place
where my language level was zero and I knew absolutely nothing about the
culture. How do long-term travellers do it? Eh?
But luckily, I wasn’t alone! Met some pals at the hostel
and slowly eased myself into Thai life! Tried Pad Thai for the first time
(LIKE, SO DELICIOUS) and we visited Chatuchak Market and picked up a few bargs. Then
the next day we were joined by a few other pals and after the not-so-emotional
reunion was out of the way, we headed out to the infamous Khao San Road for a
big night out LOL. I’m not too sure what I was expecting, but it was pretty
crazy down there. Covered with the typical neon signs and full of restaurants
and bars it was a total tourist area. Dozens of market stalls covered the road
too, selling souvenirs from novelty t-shirts to fake electronics. There were also
men every step you took trying to sell you ‘the best quality’ suits. WE DON’T WANT
YOUR DAMN SUITS. And there were a heck of a lot of coconuts too.
Then came the most uncomfortable part of the evening: a
ping pong show. Now we’ve all heard stories about the things that go down in
these places, but the thing I remember the clearest is the unshakable feelings
of shame and misery that hung about the club. As a woman, I found it all very
depressing and degrading. But little did I know, that dirty feeling would be a
lot worse after our visit to Soi Cowboy…
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| Khao San Road |
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| Mad tuk tuk ride (I do love a good tuk tuk though) |
Anyway, first real night out down, we were all a bit
worse for wear the next day so just chilled out by our hostel pool, then wandered
about drinking shakes and window shopping. The next day was MUCH more
productive! Thanks to the enthusiasm of one member of our little travelling
group, we booked a real tour and everything!
It began early doors with the Floating Market in Khlong
Latmayom, outside of Bangkok – a very impressive sight I must say! There was
everything you could imagine (if you’re realistic with your imagination) being
sold on small little boats that floated gently down the stream. Seems to be
very popular with tourists as it was pretty busy, but wasn’t too bad luckily. I
didn’t buy anything myself, but it’s a very interesting idea I think! And the
sellers weren’t anywhere near as invasive as some I’ve encountered in China.
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| Some snaps from the market |
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| More pics of the wares available |
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| After the market we floated down through a residential area. Would be mad living in one of these houses |
Then after this, we headed to the Bridge on the River
Kwai, in Kanchanaburi. For those who don’t know the story of the bridge, it was
part of the Burma (or Death) Railway which went from Bangkok to Rangoon
(Burma, or now Myanmar). During the early 1940s, the town of Kanchanaburi was under Japanese control
and they forced Allied POWs (as well as Asian labourers) to build the bridge –
most of whom died during construction due to accidents, disease or maltreatment
(thanks again Wiki).
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| The Bridge on the River Kwai and what looks to be a temple on the other side of the river |
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Me! (handy now I had people to take some
pics of me!) |
Last on the agenda was the Tiger Temple. This was easily
my favourite part of the day. I know all the controversy surrounding the
treatment of animals in places like this, but to me it didn’t seem bad. The
fact that there were foreign volunteers there at the time also reassured me a
little of the treatment of the tigers. Anyway, the tigers themselves were
absolutely beautiful. I’m not really a cat person, but I would love a pet
tiger. Such amazing creatures! So when
we arrived the most important thing on all of our minds was the classic gap yah
photo with a tiger. We came across the tiger cubs first and had cute pics with
them. There was then some difference in interests, so the larger group of us
broke off into smaller groups and my roomie and I wandered around trying to
find the actual temple of Tiger Temple. After finding it, and being very
disappointed, we carried on wandering and stumbled upon the adult tiger
enclosure. JACKPOT! There were about 12 tigers in total all lying around having
photos with the tourists, and we eagerly joined the queue. It was a strange
set-up, though I suppose all for safety: we handed our camera to a member of
staff and then you took another’s hand and they guided you around the
enclosure, positioning your hands on the tigers for the photo. Initially I was
quite reluctant to be as playful with them as the staff were being, but I did
warm up to it later and it was definitely very fun.
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| Water buffalo and cows! |
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| A tiger cub |
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| Big-headed tiger |
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| Tiger BFFs |
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King of the pride (though they actually
don't live in prides I believe) |
Although we were all tuckered out from our jam-packed
day – not to mention the time spent on the minibus – it didn’t end there! We
went out for dinner (had my first real Thai green curry! AWESOME!) then headed
to Sky Bar - famous for having a fantastic view of the city, and appearing in
couple of scenes of The Hangover Part 2.
The view from up top really was something though. Spectacular I would go so far
as to say!
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| Bangkok by night |
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If I can draw your attention to the steps
below the dome, you'll see them here... |
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Unfortunately these steps aren't actually part of Sky Bar,
so people were very snippy about photos being taken on them |
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Two of my beautiful besties -
having the time of our lives |
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| See - told ya |
One more part of the day to go: a visit to Soi Cowboy. I
shudder to remember. Don’t get me wrong, it was pretty fun at first, but then
after about half an hour of watching the many (and there were SO many) old men escort
young Thai women off I was really ready to leave. So a few of us did! And that
was the end to our very hectic day! Most productive of the whole holiday by far
I’d say.
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| Red Light District |
Having planned to leave Bangkok for our next stop the
following evening, we only had the morning and afternoon to see a little of the cultural side of Bangkok. At first we had planned to visit the Grand Palace, but seeing
the entry price (if I remember correctly, it was about £10) we decided to
scratch this and instead, head to the Reclining Buddha Temple with a much more
reasonable entrance fee! (A fiver I think) And it was very interesting as well!
Very different to the temples of China, which was a welcome change to me I must
say. All bejewelled and sparkly. Very pretty.
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| The Grand Palace, outside looking in... |
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| From outside the Reclining Buddha Temple |
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The Buddha!
As to the right photo, you had to be appropriately covered, so they handed out nifty florescent green robes if you weren't! |
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| From the temple complex |
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| Diggin' the top hat |
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| Pretty spiral things in the courtyard |
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| Very pretty detail and buddhas! |
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Weird lion/dog/deer thing which
looks to be on fire... |
So after Bangkok it was on to Phuket! And I’ll save THAT
gem for next time!
Peace
out
xoxo
